3. Wolf Boys and Cookies

       It was three days after she first met Jace that Sienna saw him again. He was standing in front of her mothers' sister's bakery. Sienna was walking there to pick up some chocolate chip cookies her aunt had made for her family.

       Jace glanced at her and gave a little wave. His friends watched as Sienna waved back and muttered "hi" and walked into the shop. Her aunt greeted her at the counter.

       "Hi there, Sienna," she said.

       "Hi, Aunt Claire," Sienna answered, glancing back at Jace and his friends, who were still looking at her and asking Jace about her.

       "So, you met the local wolf boys, huh?" Aunt Claire asked.

       "Huh? Wolves?" Sienna asked, confused.

       "I'm joking, Sienna," her aunt said. "Well, partly. They sure eat like a pack of wolves. They're in here almost every day."

       "Hmmm," Sienna said.

       "Yep. Oh, those cookies are in the back. I'l go get them," Aunt Claire stepped away from the counter and into the back room. Coincedentally, Jace chose that moment to walk back into the bakery.

       "Haven't seen you in a while," he said, smiling.

       "I haven't gone out since the day I met you. I went out that night into the forest and I saw a wolf. Kind of freaked me out," Sienna said, recalling that night. "It looked like it was the size of, like, a bear or something, but I was probably just imagining it, ya know?"

       "Yeah, probably. What color was it? The wolf?" he asked.

       "Um, I don't know. It was dark. Brown, maybe? Yeah, dark brown, I'm pretty sure," Sienna answered.

       "Good to know," Jace said.

       "What's good to know?" asked Sienna's aunt, walking back to the counter with a bag.

       "Nothing," Jace said quickly.

       "Oh. Well, here you go, Sienna. I'll see you tomorrow," she said, reminding Sienna that she was having dinner tomorrow with her aunt and her three cousins.

       "Yeah. See ya," Sienna said, walking out the door.

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       When Sienna was home and had dropped the cookies on the table, she went up to her room and grabbed a book from the shelf above her bed. She opened her copy of Shiver and began reading.

       About ten pages in, she heard a knock on the door downstairs. She closed the book and went downstairs to open the door. Jace was standing there.

       "Hi," Jace said.

       "Hi...." Sienna said. "What are you doing here?"

       "I wanted to ask you about... that wolf you saw," he said.

       Sienna raised her eyebrows. "Are you afraid of wolves or something? Because, seriously, it was just a wolf. I was only freaked out 'cause it was so huge, and I'm pretty sure that was just because I was so tired. It was like 1 am."

       "You think I'm afraid of wolves?" he asked, annoyed. "I am probably the last person who would ever be afraid of a wolf."

       "Then why do you want to talk about wolves?" Sienna asked.

       He ignored the quiestion. "Are you sure it was dark brown?" he asked.

       "Pretty sure. I told you, it was dark," she said, frustrated.

       "Did you see it do anything unusual?" he asked her.

       "No. I don't think so. Besides the fact that it saw me and didn't attack me, no, nothing strange," Sienna replied. "Why all the interest?"

       "Just... trying to figure this out. I'll see you around, Sienna," he said.

       "Wait," Sienna said.

       "What?" Jace asked.

       "What are you trying to figure out? Are you going to go hunt the wolf down?" she asked.

       "What? No, not even close. I'm just going to... deal with the problem," he said.

       "Oh. Okay, bye," she said.

       "Bye," he said, closing the door behind him.

       Sienna frowned as she went over Jace's words adn realized her hadn't answered her question. She considered going after him, but decided she could wait, and headed back upstairs to read her book.